A couple of miles down stream the three bearmen, Dick, Ron and Smokey saw a fire in the woods. They’d all heard the crash and had briefly paused in their forest orgy, but went back to it just as quickly as they’d been distracted. Now that their sexual needs had been satisfied and Ron was completely transformed, curiosity got the better of them.
“What do you think it is?” Smokey asked. Dick and Ron both looked at each other and were amazed. They both knew they could talk, but until this time, Smokey hadn’t said a thing. They didn’t know animal to hybrid animorph could speak.
“Well,” Ron said in is now gravely base voice, “it could be an accident. Cars usually don’t catch fire, but if it’s leaking fuel and there’s any sort of spark, it could happen.”
“Or it could be a camp fire that’s gotten away from someone.” Dick offered.
“Fire isn’t good. We must move away from it. I remember a big fire when I was a yearling cub. My mother and my twin brother barely escaped. We saw humans and their machines in the sky fighting them, but we could do nothing to stop it. We ran. Those that survive run from fire.” Smokey said.
“Well,” Ron said, “It’s in the nature of humans to try to stop these things, I think we should go see if we can put it out.”
“Yes, but you’re forgetting something Ron, we’re not exactly humans anymore.” Dick said. “What you wanna bet that the local ranger station isn’t far from here? What if we’re seen? We’ll be captured and studied by geeks like us and in the end, they’ll put us down like a pound puppy. All they need is our DNA and a voided egg from either species to clone us. You know Transgene is working on a super soldier project. I don’t want to end up on someone’s slab with my semen in some corporate sperm bank. Think about it, we did that to the mice we tested. We watched them grow into intelligent creatures and then we put them to sleep and dissected them. It could be worse, how’d you like to be lobotomized and kept alive for study. That way, they’d have fresh samples for years and I imagine mating would be top priority to our animal natures once the higher functions were gone. I don’t want that to happen to us and I especially don’t want that to happen to Smokey here. He’d be a normal, carefree bear if it weren’t for us. We owe him.”
“True, but the fire will just bring more attention to the area. If we put it out quickly, the ranger will call off any support he might be calling in.” Ron said.
“OK, then we’ll go.” Dick said. “Smokey, will you follow?”
“Yes, I’ll follow. We’re mates.” Smokey said with a big toothy grin.
“OK, but I want you to stay back in the forest and watch only.” Dick said.
With that, the three ursinoids headed in the direction of the fire.
*****
Jason had just finished his thirty minute orgasm with his mate. It was the most mind blowing experience of his life. He had no idea that humans had such tame sex, by comparison. His balls had filled his sow with seed and he knew there would be piglets. He knew he’d be a father, but he wondered if it would be one or many. He had no idea if the pig tendency to produce multiple offspring or the human tendency to produce only two to three on average would be coded into the new hybrid species he and his mate were. He felt for the gash in his forehead and only felt slick, thin scar. Apparently the change healed you too and he wondered if organ regeneration was part of the side benefit of transformation. It was something he hadn’t thought to look for in the test subject mice and rats.
He was sure that the burning Jeep would draw attention. He looked around at the animorphs and spoke.
“Alright, the fire is almost out. The dirt that you dug up and threw on the spreading fire kept it from going any further.”
He saw that one of the animorph raccoons was holding onto the fire extinguisher he kept in his truck. Jason figured the raccoon’s curiosity was what prompted him to take it.
“May I have that?” Jason asked the raccoon.
“No, it’s mine! I found it!” the raccoon said.
Jason grunted in frustration but calmed himself and said in an even tone.
“That thing you have will put the fire out. It will stop it from spreading through the forest. It will keep your mate and your offspring safe if we use it now.” Jason studied the raccoon’s face and saw the battle between keeping the ‘shiny thing’ and the new found powers of reason granted to it by the virus.
“OK!” The raccoon said, ran over to Jason and gave him the extinguisher and then quickly ran back to keep his distance.
Jason ran over to the truck. His hoofs and new legs seemed to carry him much faster than his old human legs had ever done. The change had made him different, for one thing, it gave him a strong sense of protection for his mate and that seemed to spill over to the other hybrids he’d created. In a way, he was the father of all of them, even that bastard Dick and that jerk Ron. It was a strange thought, but it made him feel good and it pumped his battered ego, just a bit.
The fire had mostly burned itself out; Jason didn’t have that much gas in the Jeep when he’d left for the expedition. It was just lucky that the Jeep had rolled onto the rockier part of the creek bed and there wasn’t too much to burn near the Jeep. Everything in the Jeep was toast. The upholstery, his CDs and the lab coat with the video tape of Dick and that bearman. He particularly would miss his Rob Zombie CDs.
He used the extinguisher and put the fire out on the ground where the gas had spilled and was just about to leave when he heard a vehicle coming down the road.
It was the ranger, he was sure. He trotted back over to the animorphs, about eight of them in all; excluding his mate. He saw: two raccoons, a mated pair, a squirrel most likely male, but he wasn’t sure, a she-bear, three wolves, an alpha pair and a beta male and a stag.
We must hide, if the human that was attracted by this fire sees you, other humans may come and hunt you.
Jason heard the truck stop and a moment later, the door open and slam. “Hide!” he said.
*****
Ranger Doug Ricter arrived in the area near where he had spotted the fire. He got out of his truck with his fire equipment. He was a man in his early fifties with salt and pepper black hair and a thick bushy salt and pepper moustache and goatee. Doug was a bit overweight from too many visits to his favorite diner and he huffed and puffed a bit as he hurried to where he saw the smoke rising through the trees from the vehicle.
As he carefully made his way down the slope to the creek, he cursed. He’d left his two way radio in the truck and he’d have to climb back up if he needed help with the fire, if there was a fire. He didn’t see any flickering through the woods. He followed the path of broken saplings and finally made his way to the creek bed.
The fire must have burned itself out. He didn’t see any flames on or around the crumpled, burned out jeep. He also didn’t see a driver, burned to a crisp or lying close to the Jeep. That was very strange, where was the driver? Perhaps he was thrown clear or something, perhaps he’d stumbled down the creek to find help or perhaps he was on the road going for help. The full moon hadn’t risen high enough in the sky to be helpful, so he started investigating with his flashlight.
He heard a sound in the woods. “That’s all I need!” he muttered, “A bear to come out of the woods while I’m alone.” He patted his side arm and wished now he’d climbed back up and got that radio. He swung the flashlight around, looking into the woods as far as he could, but he didn’t see anything and he didn’t hear anything. Perhaps he was just spooked. He approached the Jeep and as he did so, he heard another sound.
“OK,” Doug said, “I’m outta here! I’ll call it in and let the firefighters deal with it. Too damned dark to see anyway.”
He began to climb the slope, no easy task for an old fat man, and froze. He saw two figures through the trees up the long slope ahead of him. He caught the eerie flash of their eyes from his flashlight and it sent a chill up his spine.
Doug didn’t know what to do; he reached for his pistol on his side and rested his hand on it. He tried to get a better look and called out, “OK, come out where I can see you. I’m a ranger. There’s been an accident.”
Doug waited for what would happen next.